Page:Biographical Sketches of Dekkan Poets.djvu/106

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
79

to the Court of a Maharatta Sovereign, but as he was clad in mean attire, no notice was taken of him even there, until raising his voice, he repeated the following lines:—

The Kokil singing 'midst a flock of crows,
His melody in tuneful warblings shows,
And while the pow'r of harmony displays,
The verdant groves re-echo forth hislays;
The Foresters enchanted by his song,
Indignant drive away the sable throng,
That no vile croaker of the kawing raae,
Should near the vocal stranger hold a place.

These lines Jaganath Pundit intended as a satire on the inferior talents of the poets at the court of the Maharatta King—and though the censure conveyed in this extempotaneous effusion was sufficiently galling, yet the sovereign conferred large presents and suitable apparel on our poet. Jaganath Pundit after this proceeded to Jayapore, where be staid many years: in this place he vanquished several pundits in public disputations on various subjects, and he established a School wherein he instructed numerous pupils in the Puranas. While residing at Jayapore, he understood that the Emperor of